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4/9/2013 1:00PM

GOP Misfires on Gun Control Filibuster

Gun control may emerge from the Senate this week, why women are under-represented at Harvard Law, the need for high-skilled immigrants in the U.S. and why Pres. Obama's social security reforms are a fraud

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... Ch the ... thus ... the idea that they may use political stocks supplement books ... on the news reports ... think about that ... the ... the single malt mole on ideas that almost all American support ... there is a bill ... to make and even prevent ... any books ... on these provisions ... there's a new opinion doesn't matter ... I ... that is not right ... welcome to Opinion Journal why Mary Kissel ... that was President Obama denouncing Republican plans the filibuster in any gun control legislation ... and my next guest is going to denounce the idea to ... just for different reasons Potomac watch columnist Kim straw soul joins now from Washington can ... why would the GOP filibuster gun control legislation don't they want the Democrats to vote ... to show that the Democrats are divided on this issue ... we had exactly right and that's why it's it's denounce or are they end ... up until now all of the headlines have been about how the presence proposals are largely going down and then going down ... at the hands of his own party Senate Democrats don't want is for his assault weapons ban ... they don't want limits on magazines there even divided over what background check provisions they might come up with ... now in coming out and pre empt early saying that they could filibuster legislation ... only do was allow the president to make that kind of speech that he was all ready to slap the legislation come to the floor ... the Democrats fight out played out and then you can really comes down to something like that the euro up a filibuster but to take in the matter in the target doesn't seem like the smartest politics so what did the Democrats actually we want to do ... I e Gás focus and on background checks anyone about ... privacy concerns ... while that is that the central aspect of this Mary which is that the presence proposals have now been watered down to almost nothing there that ... provision in there that will weigh that ... up to the penalty is um what's known as straw purchasing of guns is already illegal I there might be some grant money for schools ... the Democrats are still trying to decide about the background check in you have a number of senators from ... red states who are Democrats were very concerned about any provisions ... that might require an average Americans to have to undergo background checks or do background checks when they are going to engage in a private sale of a gun and keep records for that which is brought up a lot of fears about a national ... database and registry of gun owners ... it also seems to support managers ... may go against what the Supreme Court ruled about the second amendment in the Heller decision explain ... that's the one the more remarkable aspects of the presence ... proposals from the game ... was only recently the Supreme Court came out and clarify the second amendment in the first time ... that agreeing that you do have an individual right to own firearms actually quite probably ... on leaving the door open for broad definition of what their four counts of illegal firearms ... what you seen the presence proposals and also some of these new Gundam event passed by states ... in the last few months ... is that the actual total pushback of the Supreme Court that ... and and and ignoring what that actual decision was a constitutional merited it's very difficult to believe ... that the president's proposal for a quota love ban on assault weapons could actually pass constitutional muster ... can we can debate on Iraq and page about the mental health aspects here ... terms of preventing mass killings likely starter Warren we saw at New town ... um has that discussion just been completely sidelined on Capitol Hill ... yes one of the greatest games of this debate is that so much attention has been sucked up as you would expect a one on this question of limiting firearms ... I've that we had stepped aside from what there was actually some agreement on which is that you need to do something about mental health ... the problem of course Mary is that it be hopping today because the kids in the federal privacy laws ... the kids and all kinds of questions about privacy rights and people's ... mental health status whether dovish the bar from guns ... machetes Congress doesn't necessarily want to take up those issues and the complicated so that has been moving ... much more slowly this season discussion of in house but by and large it spends on its website ... Congress doesn't wanna take on tough issues and neither does the president surprise surprise ... in some of my calmness can straw soul thank so much for joining ... thank you ... Harvard law professor says women are under represented her institution ... is but she has to say and I quote ... so I think mine singing is probably captured by the miner's Canary metaphor that the wheel law school for the Canary in the coal mines ... so there are more vulnerable when the atmosphere in the coal mines gets toxic ... the Canary because it is different respiratory system is more likely to start gasping for air ... and that's a sign that the atmosphere is toxic ... not just the dictionary ... but for the miners as well so it's a signal ... to you in fact he weighs faster web calmness chain store as I was here to respond James ... the professor claims at Harvard is discriminating against When the Law School true or false false outlets but listed but that was money when you younger readers will remember all the readers rather remembers Bill Clinton's quoted when ... she's a hard left to start in fear of all sorts of crazy eyed ... schemes for a ride I'd ... you know ensuring minority representation so forth ... but the complaint here ... I've been a bit put together this video women at Harvard law school and to either the court complaint is that Harvard law school is just too tough for women to read a quote from one of the students ... yes we do it's in and the myriad this Dalits quote ... I've never met in an environment like this before the level of competition just basically drown the mice ... mice all around this the other quotes like this the this video which proportionally couldn't get because it's gotten some reviews since I wrote about it ... I'd I feel I take a little lost with lot of confidence I thought accomplice confidence is completely knocked out of me ... the Socratic method one of them says keep swimming Dow ... now the argument is because women and Harvard law school have a harder time than that ... that means the Harvard law school discriminates against women in sentences that grades is ... seen in terms of achieving in terms of adjusting to the rigor of the coursework ... I think that it's the opposite I think this is evidence the Harvard law discriminates in favor of one ... now a former Harvard president Larry Summers got into a lot of trouble when he made a similar in any said ... many exhibit higher variance than when it when it comes to IQ there more ... incredibly genius men out there than there are winning ... on average when you look at this distance but that's because smart idea to write about for ... the average man is no more intelligent than the average woman but the various is greater so they're more men on either end of the bell curve which means ... that when you're taking out the people of the very top ... the else out which I've taken law school admissions test is basically an IQ test ... and I it so you're going to get a good deal more than Harvard has a pretty even sex Tricia Harvard law school classes fifty three percent man forty seven percent we've got the numbers laid out some numbers Oscar in order to get in years even sex ratio I posit ... are Harvard is holding women to Laura standards the man ... and therefore women are struggling in school the same way that people were admitted under Lord standards because of their ethnic and racial status gives them diversity value the same way they tend to struggle and be more like a drug that is unhealthy underperforming women nor does it help the women who are high performing ... to get anything brought on by the Smiths if you watch this video it it's a great advertisement for Harvard because it really shows you what a tough program is right that all these people got admitted can't hack it ... so if you're on trial for for your life you want a Harvard man representing you ... or you want a Harvard woman who actually is not in this video is not tight ... and is not whining but is actually doing the work and in ... the Socratic method did not keep a lady came down to that but the problem is all women to go to Harvard law school art aided by this video it's really AEI shockingly high ... on slander against one of the shocking slander against women best of the Web columnist James Taranto ... thank you so much for ... correcting ... the record thank you ... next up are you a PhD student who wants to stay in the United States ... well good luck we've got some news for you stay tuned ... welcome back to Opinion Journal I'm Mary Kissel ... the immigration debate in this country has focused largely on low skilled workers but what about the high skilled immigrants what's happening to them ... political diary editor Wall Street Journal Editorial board member and the author of wet and and ... on immigration ... Jason Riley joins The Jason ... you've got some pretty disturbing news about the H one B V so this is that ... the piece of the high skilled immigrants what's going on as you mention in the intro of the low skill immigrants in the stock up a lot of the oxygen ... in the EU legal immigration debate which is understandable um ... up most of the legal immigrants coming vast majority are ... are low skill immigrants but that a couple stories ... in recent days suggesting that we shouldn't forget about ... how broken our system is for high skill ... immigrants as well as science math technology to stand or whatever the foreign professionals who won a CompStudy in the U S Mint's day ... have a hard time that because we put these lol quotas numerical quotas and how many of them would allow ... that to happen to him with the news was on Friday was that we've once again reached ... the sixty five thousand cap on H1 B visas which are the visas for high school workers ... up prior to four per fiscal fourteen so prior government's prior to the fiscal year even starting we've already reached ... the cap and this is happen ... but repeatedly over the past ten or fifteen years who regularly reach the cap while for the fiscal year ... even vegans and the ... best of a big problem because ... of as much as we would like ... um more R Us canons natives to go into the math ... and science is the fact the matter is ... this foreign students typically who major in the study of the more than how you start the company since ... the company's Enright for Amour is ... that Intel Gool goal ... the day the list of top forty percent of Fortune five hundred companies were ... started by immigrants or their children ... so the the and the other story that came out recently spoke to that is even more disturbing I think ... the MidCap at the two are related and that is that fewer foreign students from certain countries ... are coming to study ... in the last mainly from China ... the applicants ... at US universities from the country are way down from that what they were not just the year-ago on this is been ... a trend in recent years again that's a very ... disturbing because these are the students ... I think ... more than half of all masters degrees in electrical and an engineering company porn students and more than sixty percent of peace peace ... in to watch them and engineering ... go to foreign students so you're talking about ... aam thwarting innovation ... of companies that are created in the U S jobs that are created here ... the students now have other options and other countries ... with with ... with with more ... accepting immigration policies than the US and that a key investor then we ... should make sure that our lawmakers no that's not focused on this is the Crowley debate immigration reform cannot teach these in gender studies easier ... no use in ... model year the hard sciences ... on Tuesday said there are a lot of options take that person Australia or Canada write my were something ... no weakened twenty ten we admitted ... on a million people as permanent residents in the U S ... only fifteen percent of those were skills base image so what's going on thinking of a toxin center we coming to some resolution here ... well it looks like that that the latest reports are that there are very close to reaching a deal perhaps this week ... or next week will if they will be ready to announce something ... and it looks like what it's well done to this latest dispute of this last dispute is over agriculture workers and how they're going ... to be ... dealt with now ... um ... most U S the legal immigrants are not in the air call for industry lot people think that's the case ... but only about a million of the eleven million or so in the polls here are in agriculture ... but ... all of the people working in agriculture about ... seventy or eighty percent are new week ... so the aircraft industry does have a huge stake in the so what they're trying to figure out ... is how to make sure that those people currently working in our call to ... have an incentive to stay there ... the the adult and she doesn't wanna lose that workforce ... and so what they're trying to do was incentive eyes these folks by giving them a slightly shorter ... path to permanent residents of of three years to say ... this though their legal work and our costs are for three years ... of Zoetis of the year then you'll be on a path to ALM or you ... can receive the proper legal staff than three years now if you're in a non Arab culture industry that happens to be slightly long empty lots to discuss a I hope you can actually keep this updated whenever the area to Jason Riley thank you so much for being ... with this ... present Obama is scheduled to release his budget tomorrow ... but don't believe all the numbers were going to break it down for a week James Freeman ... stated ... welcome back to Opinion Journal I'm Mary Kissel ... the president's budget is coming out tomorrow but guess what ... some of the numbers aren't going to be fiddled with ... assistant editorial page editor James Freeman ... is here to explain a chance ... RIM focuses on social security does is get one thing on the way ... it's a Ponzi scheme yes that's correct so a lot of money and in the air goes out of your paycheck on Friday is not saved and some special fund for you later ... it's given to a senior on Monday and so on ... this is ... basically a Ponzi scheme where revenues are benefits are funded by current checks not by any say ok we're going to talk about March no reforms to the Ari Ponzi scheme ... I'll what is chained CPI in one twelve ... what isn't that yes you know the president is ... like the poses if he is ... searching for common ground with Republicans and wants to do a grand bargain ... to ... get the government back on the same fiscal path but the but they just won't do a deal with them so now his latest effort to show a reasonable is is to say look I'm willing to reform social security ... so I basically what he's saying is he's going to change slightly the inflation rate for some people ... so that there are of benefits are not your girl is as much as they normally would ... while the second time of this is going to have the effect of raising taxes on other people because it pushes people into higher tax brackets that the new fat people on the right and allow ... into our society as saying ... we shouldn't make sure that these benefits are in the all the way don't know why they're endorsing it for what what what what he's saying is I'm gonna I'm going to reduce slightly the growth and benefits ... for people that essentially the a ... the president doesn't think really need the money the and he's already saying that ... they all the seniors and for seniors and veterans and ... all the wonderful groups would like help but but we'll see tomorrow who's actually going to get the slight reduction in the increase in their check ... um ... just to give you a sense of that even the Obama map is ... projecting that this isn't ... in the ten fifteen billion dollars a year range this is much smaller than other spending increases he wants this is ... a ... social security system as an unfunded liability of about twenty trillion dollar twenty oh is he ... going to grow in Melanie's traveling on the lookout in a long term the US so ... this is really not ... anything ... really having ... much were talking about if you're saying ... our goal is to seriously reform entitlements but ... we had an op ed in today's Wall Street Journal to that talked about how ... early the broader budget numbers are also fix ... and when a city I cut the deficit ... but they really mean is cut the growth in spending not not ... not cut the deficit the eye of William Poole a nice piece today on the onthe basically the government does love accounting that would be for all of them would send people to prison if it was done by people in private markets ... so this is why ... you really want the attention tomorrow because ... even in the offer as Rome are just terrible ... so what CNN to find friends that you really wonder whether it's kinda ... due to end up reducing anyone's benefits at all but you you can guarantee it will push people into higher taxes why isn't the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau do so more on that on this case as a living out his case anyone to be a lot about the assistant or a pigeon are James Freeman thanks for the integration going for ... email us at Opinion Journal Live all one word at WS J dot com ... for treats me at Mary Kissel with the complaints and comments